Twitch Quietly Stops Accepting Cryptocurrency Payments

Twitch.tv, a popular live streaming platform that as of May 2018 has over 15 million daily active users, has recently quietly stopped accepting bitcoin and bitcoin cash payments, as the options to pay with these cryptocurrencies seemingly vanished.

The company’s move was first spotted by users on Reddit, who pointed out they were no longer able to pay for subscriptions using cryptocurrencies. While some noted they didn’t even know the company accepted cryptos, others started cancelling subscriptions to boycott the company for the move.

While it isn’t currently clear why Twitch removed the payment option, a low transaction volume could be behind it, as most users seemingly didn’t even know it was there in the first place. Some have already contacted support to figure out what’s going on. Looking at the platform’s payments options shows there’s, at press time, no way to pay using crypto.

The company notably added cryptocurrency payments in mid-2018, allowing users to pay for subscriptions to their favorite streaming channels using various top cryptocurrencies, including BTC, BCH, ETH, and LTC.

The move came through another company called StreamLabs, which provides streamers on various platforms with a full suite of software to help them manage content, livefeeds, and donations. It also helped them accept donations in cryptocurrency.

Twitch is notably a subsidiary of Amazon, as it was acquired by the e-commerce giant for $970 million back in 2014. It’s said to have over one million concurrent users on average, and has over 2.2 million broadcasters.

PayPal is Cautiously Optimistic About Partnership with Libra Association

Payment platform was one of the first companies to join and support the Libra Association.

Payment platform PayPal is cautiously optimistic about its relationship with Facebook’s digital currency libra, despite being the highest-profile company to join the Libra Association.

PayPal Backs Libra Association

In June, shortly after the official unveiling of Facebook’s libra, PayPal announced an intention to join and support the Libra Association, a collection of tech and finance companies promoting the product.

At the time, PayPal billed the digital currency as a revolutionary product for people around the world,

We believe in democratizing participation in the digital economy for people from all walks of life, and businesses of all sizes.

However, PayPal appears cautious about its future with Facebook’s digital currency. PayPal investor relations vice president Gabrielle Rabinovitch reiterated Sept. 12 that the company is a non-binding agreement with libra,

It's a non-binding commitment. And obviously, I think there's a lot of work to happen before we get to that point where it becomes something more than just a very exciting idea.

She added,

The goals and ambitions of Libra are very consistent with PayPal's overall ambitions in terms of serving the underserved; democratizing access to capital. So we very much believe in the potential of Libra.

While PayPal appears optimistic about the future of libra, the digital currency has endured months of regulatory and political scrutiny concerning its release.

Earlier in the week, senior U.S. Treasury official Sigal Mandelker told an audience in Geneva that libra would be held to the highest standard of regulatory compliance in order to combat money laundering and terrorist funding.